abatt

This is one of the performances in which ABT hiked up the price of the tickets due to high demand (dynamic pricing). ABT is laughing all the way to the bank on this one. I actually feel sorry for Part, since most of the audience will not know that Vishneva is replaced until they get to the Met tomorrow. Performing for an angry/disappointed audience as the replacement is a tough job.

I hope Vishneva will still be doing her Onegin performances. Ugh.

I was at the Wed matinee. Lots of older retirees. In fact, there were so many women that they turned the men's room into a ladies room for the intermissions on the balcony level. Pretty full house. Cast was Herrera/Stearns/Abrera. I cannot understand why Stella is not a principal. Her performance was wonderful. I have not been a big Cory fan in the past, but I thought he did very well. He has improved tremendously over the years. A very fine performance. Herrera was good, although she is certainly not the most lyrical dancer. Can't wait for tonight and tomorrow night's casts.

Looking forward to meeting you. I'll be there Thurs and Fri.

I thought that Part did a wonderful job, with great extensions and her long fluid lines. However, that old demon that haunts her from time to time re-emerged. She came off pointe at least twice during the scarf dance in Act II. She looked very frustrated by this problem. Murphy, as always, knocked it out of the park as Gamzatti. Gomes was terrific. It's too bad that he and Veronika don't dance together more often. The auditorium was like a ghost town. Very poor attendance.

That was a fast reversal. The number of comments on the NY Times website under the Comments section of the article was HUGE.

Censorship becomes a very slippery slope. If the magazine now criticizes a Luc Bondy production in Europe, will Gelb mandate that the review not be published because Luc Bondy directed the Met's Tosca? If an Opera News critic gives a negative review to Natalie Dessay in a production in Los Angeles, does Gelb pull the review because Dessay will be opening at the Met a few weeks later to perform the same role, and a negative review might affect ticket sales at the Met? Open debate and discussion is always the better solution. This is not some propaganda newsletter. Opera News is heavily supported by extensive advertising in the magazine by luxury goods and services sellers, as well as a wide subscriber base and news stand circulation. I'm not even clear as to whether the employees of Opera News are considered employees of the Metropolitan Opera. If Gelb didn't like the reviews, he could have written a rebuttal. Silencing your critics is not the answer. .

Here is an article from today's NY Times. I thought it might be of interest to people on this board. Opera News will no longer review productions of the Met Opera because Peter Gelb does not like the negative reviews that the publication has given to certain productions. The publication is affiliated with the Met Opera, as the article explains. As the article also explains, this is only the latest, but most egregious and outrageous, of Gelb's effort to quash criticism of the Met. It's a very disturbing development. http://www.nytimes.c...a.html?ref=arts

http://www.nyc-arts.org/ New York's Channel 13 runs a weekly half hour show called NYC Arts. The episode that aired a few days ago featured an extensive interview w. McKenzie, as well as rehearsal footage of ABT. It's an overview of the Spring Met Season. You can access it at the above link.

The photos are primarily of the Act II white dresses, not the Act I peasant dresses.

Puppytreats, the New York Times has a Slide Show on the internet, along with A. Macauley's review of the Giselles, on the NY Times website. You can see the different Giselle Act II dresses in the slide show. Go to today's Links to see the review.

I think Adrian Daching Waring deserves a promotion to principal. He may need to prove himself a bit more to Martins due to his long absence due to injury. However, he is performing numerous principal roles and he is an excellent dancer. Also, Krohn joined the corps in 1999. To my recollection, this may be the longest period of time for someone at NYCB to rise from corps to principal. I think it has taken a few people 10 years. If memory serves, it took Ringer and Alexopolous 10 years.

Ditto. Loved Vasliev in D.C. in Spartacus a few years ago.

Re Osipova's hair, a friend who goes to Salon Ishi (a very high end salon) tells me that Osipova gets extensions in her hair in prep for Giselle and also Juliet. Dvorovenko and Beletserkovsky also go to that salon. In addition to the marvelous little detail mentioned above re Hallberg trying to explain (rather than deny) Hilarion's accusation, I also noticed that in the He Loves Me He Loves Me Not sequence, after Hallberg points out that she counted incorrectly, he held on to that flower instead of flinging it aside like most of the other Albrechts. So many great moments in both performances. I still have images of Osipova and Vishneva floating through the air like butterflies.

I attended both performances yesterday of Giselle on Super Saturday. Briefly stated, it is a day of performances that I will never forget. Two utterly brilliant and memorable performances. Thank you, ABT, for bringing these supreme artists to New York. I don't have much time right now, except to say that Vishneva was heartwrenching. The last great partnership at ABT was Ferri and Bocca. I think that Gomes and Vishneva can now be bestowed with that honor. They are electric together. The way she pleaded with Myrta and tried to protect Albrecht brought tears to my eyes. The only weak link here was Semionova's Myrta. She seemed stiff and unimposing. The afternoon performance was also astounding. The thing I will remember first and foremost is Osipova's hops on pointe in Act I. She hopped on the diagonal of the stage, and then using the same working foot she did 360 degrees of hops, and then proceeded to resume the hops along the diagonal of the stage without ever coming off that pointe of her foot. Is this woman human or a superhero of the ballet world. Hallberg has never looked better. Hopefully other will pick up this thread, as I need to go now.

Hi there. I was at Friday's performance as well. I have never before seen Bouder give such a lyric interpretation to an adagio role. She is, as we all know, a great allegro dancer. However, I've often been disappointed in her performances in adagio roles. This was a whole other side of Ashley that we don't see very often. The entire cast was marvelous. IN B-S Quartet, I thought Finlay was stil trying to find his way back and get his sea legs back under him after a long period of absence. The first movement saw the debut of corps member Ms.Kitka in the soloist role. More please! This young dancer had great sweeping grandeur in her upper body and arms. Her jetes were huge. I can't wait to see her in other roles. Tiler Peck danced with complete abandon in the second movement. She was absolutely breathtaking. Justin Peck, her partner, was good, but he still has a ways to go. Scheller and Garcia were thrilling in the third movement. I thought Scheller captivating. Didn't stay for the fourth movement in order to get home and prepare for super Saturday at ABT.

Classic Ballet, I assumed that the modifications she made to the choreography and constantly coming off pointe in Act I was not an accident, but a choice she made to lighten her burden in Act I. I also noticed the moment when she almost fell over in Act I. I hope she is better by next Thursday for Bayadere.

I was at the Angel/Alina performance last night too. I thought it was good, but not stellar. In particular, I thought that Alina's performance was conservative insofar as her technique. She seemed to avoid doing choreography that required her to land on her pointes. For example, she failed to do the little hops on pointe in Act I, and modified it to do something easy. Also, in the second act, she modified the portion where Giselle does a series of small jumps, so that she could do fewer of them. That in itself would not have been a problem, except that her modification of the choreography caused her to be out of sync with the music. Additionally, the modification made her more earthbound, when her character is supposed to be airborne. In addition, the part where Angel lifts and supports her as she skims the floor with one foot seemed to have been modified. I don't think it was partnering error. It seemed planned in order to reduce the number of times her pointe struck the floor. However, I thought Alina's performance did have emotional resonance. Angel didn't take any short cuts, and he gave a marvelous and memorable performance. Murphy was in excellent form as Myrta. The peasant pdd seemed flat. Looking forward to Super Saturday.

In my early ballet going years at ABT, I sat in the parterre box closest to the stage on the right side of the house for Romeo and Juliet. BIG mistake. I missed most of the balcony scene because a large portion of thestage on the right was completely cut off from view. Beware. I also stopped sitting in the boxes for the reason mentioned by California. There are too many people jockeying for favorable positions/sight lines in the boxes. I felt like people were practically sitting in my lap they were so close. Very unpleasant.

Some additional casting info is now available from the casting sheets in the lobby. Apollo: 6/11 Hallberg, Part, Abrera, Seo 6/13 Matinee: Gomes, Semionova, Hamrick, Teuscher 6/'13 evening: Beloserkosky, Herrera, Ricetto, Shevchenko Thirteen Diversions: 6/11 Ricetto/Matthews, Boylston/Stearns, Abrera/Tamm, Shevchenko/Hoven 6/12 Lane/Salstein, Seo/Davis, Murphy/Hallberg, Messsmer/Hammmoudi 6/13 mat: Ricetto/Matthews, Copeland/Davis, Abrera/Tamm, Shevch/Hov 6/13 eve: Lane/Sals., Seo/Davis, Boone/Forster, Teucher/Mantei Firebird 6/11 Osipova, Gomes, Messmer, Hallberg 6/12 Copeland, Cornejo, Ricetto, Zhurbin 6/13mat Boylston, Hammoudi, Boone, Stearns 6/13 eve same as 6/11 6/21 same as 6/11 6/22 same as 6/13 mat 6/23 mat same as 6/12 6/23 eve same as 6/11 No casting available yet for Purple Rothbart. And you don't have to pay me a fee for the casting update info, unlike the ABT app. for I Phone.

A word about Mearns. The casting sheet in the lobby of the Koch was updated today. Mearns is replaced in all ballets for this week. Krohn replaces her in Concerto B. Kowrowski replaces her in Liebeslieder. Georgina Paz. replaces her in Russian Seasons. Reichlin replaces her in BS Quartet, 4th movement. R. Fairchild is replaced this week in Fancy Free by Tyler Angle.

The dogs were well behaved. No spontaneous choreography.

I attended last night's Giselle, with Kent and Gomes as the leads. Although Kent's technique has declined, she was still an excellent Giselle. The shapes she created in Act II were gorgeous. IN particular, the fluidity of her upper body and arms were lovely. Gomes is always great in just about every role he does, and last night was no exception. I think he brings out the best in Kent. Gomes was ardent and romantic, with phenomenal technique. The portion of Act II where he partners Kent as she barely skims the stage with her foot was perfectly done. Marcelo did 21 entrechat sixes as he traveled down the center of the stage. Part looks better than ever as Myrta. In the past her initial entrance, where she bourees across the stage, has been a bit slow. Last night I thought she did them faster than I had ever seen her do them previously. Kajiya and Boylston were Moyna and Zulma. Kajiya was gorgeous. Boylston has great technique, but I think she still needs some training regarding the carriage of her upper body and her arms. Lane and Simkin were last night's peasants. Lane came off pointe twice, but one of the times was due to a partnering issue with Simkin. Genadi performed the role of Hilarion. There were many, many empty seats at Tuesday's performance. Looking forward to Thursday's cast.

Hi Ceeszi. Here are some highs and lows from last night. Vasiliev and Osipova performed the pdd from Ratmansky's Flames of Paris. Vasiliev tried to show off a bit too much at the start, and nearly fell over on a complex jump. One jerk in the audience (in the balcony) decided to boo Vasiliev loudly, as the rest of the audience applauded heartily. Osipova and Vasiliev were absolutely fantastic, except for Vasiliev's one error that I mentioned. Their jumps and spins were extraordinary.(I forgot to add that Osipova inserted jumps as she did her fouettes. UNREAL.) I hope that Flames is the next Ratmansky ballet that ABT brings us. I've seen it on DVD w. Osipova and Vasiliev and loved it. Another extraordinary achievement was the R&J pdd done by Vishneva and Gomes. It was pure bliss. They were absolutely wonderful. The audience erupted with applause. If you don't already have tickets to their R& J, run (don't walk) to the box office. Max B. made a rare appearance by partnering his wife Irina in the Act II pdd from Swan Lake. Max looked in shape. I have no idea why he doesn't dance anymore. Irina is a wonderful technician, and I admire her. But her performance didin't move me. Speaking of SL, Murphy and Muntagirov did the black swan pdd. Gillian pulled off some impressive spins. This was my first time seeing Muntagirov. I know he has a very impressive reputation, but his dancing last night seemed merely adequate. I thought one of the most disappointing performances of the evening was the Onegin pdd w. Kent and Bolle. There was zero chemistry between them, in my opinion. Corella and Cojocaru were very good together in the Manon pdd (bedroom scene). Corella executed the difficult lifts with ease, and Cojocaru danced gorgeously. Sigh. I'm going to miss Angel. Veronika Part looked super thin in a pdd w. T. Forster titled Blue (by Susan Jaffe). It was a tedious, modern (pull me, stretch me) pdd, but the dancers did they best they could with it. Reyes and Cornejo were charming in Don Q. wedding pdd. Cornejo did some wonderful jumps and spins. Reyes did some impresssive triple (or quadruple?) fouettes, although she was traveling all over the stage without control. Hallberg looks better than I've ever seen him. He did a pdd w. Polina Semionova from Bayadere. His line, his stretch - totally amazing. The Bolshoi has done good by him. Semionova was fine but forgettable. Herrera and Stearns did the Bedroom pdd from Corsaire. You could see all the effort and mechanics in Cory's lifts. The kids from JKO school were lovely. One boy had a solo that demonstrated his strong technique. Don't know his name. I didn't see much point to doing portions of Thirteen Diversions. It just looked disjointed. Simkin did a solo to Jaques Brel music. The solo was choregraphed for him, and I've seen him perform it a various galas over the years. It takes full advantage of showing off his marvelous technical abilities and comedic talents. I always consider the final bows an essential part of the evening to see what everyone is wearing. Once again, Irina stole the show. She looked INCREDIBLE in a gorgeous cobalt blue sequined dress with a plunging neck. Does anyone know the designer of the dress. Unfortunately, worst dressed goes to Vishneva, who looked like she was wearing pajamas. The outfit made her look frumpy. Why did Caroline Kennedy trot her kid on stage? He had his hands in his pockets and looked down at the stage the whole time. He clearly did not want to be there. Ah, the lifestyles of the rich and famous. I'm sure there must have been celebs there, but I couldn't identify any. What did everyone else think.

Actually, I'm not sure that's correct, susanger. They raised the subscription price from $49 to $51 for one section. I know my subscription ticket price thiis season for those tickets was $49. Also, I believe they raised the price in second highest category from $102 or $103 last season to $108 next season. The price level that I'm sure remained the same was the $26 section (full price $29). I've been waiting for them to bring back Red Angels. Two weeks of Sleeping Beauty? Sounds like a bit much. I guess it sells. It's also interesting that they are bringing back Rubies and Diamonds on different programs. They've never split up Jewels before, to my knowledge. I know many companies only do Rubies. I've never heard of a stand-alone Diamonds, but I'm not complaining because I enjoy that ballet.